Asilomar bash marks 150 years of state parks

PACIFIC GROVE >> We should all look this good at 101. The world-famous Asilomar Conference Grounds has nary a wrinkle, a sag or a creak more than a century after it was founded as a gathering place for the Young Women's Christian Association by a committee that included YWCA board member Phoebe Apperson Hearst (mother of publishing titan William Randolph Hearst), and designed by renowned pioneer architect Julia Morgan.

Meanwhile, the California State Parks Department, which now oversees the grounds, threw a 150th birthday party for itself Saturday, showcasing the 30-acre facility (which held its first YWCA conference there in 1913) and its magnificent, early 20th-century building designs that remain architectural marvels in 2014.

The free event included docent-led tours of some of the more notable structures, an hourlong lecture by Victoria Kastner, the state parks historian at Hearst Castle, a vintage fashion show, a concert by the Royal Society Jazz Orchestra, a San Francisco-based group that is a throwback to the Roaring '20s, and presentation of the California Historic Landmark plaque for the California Office of Historic Preservation.

The most spectacular of Morgan's buildings, the chapel, hosted all but the walking tour beneath its astounding, arching redwood ceiling and inside acoustically ideal walls for audience members who, in many cases, dressed for the occasion in period clothes of their own.

"My husband and I have come to Asilomar several times over the years, for various things, and wanted to be a part of things today," said Reina Glasgow, who came from Antioch wearing a stylish, flat-brimmed hat with a plume. "We fell in love with Asilomar on our very first visit. It's a very peaceful place for us."

Karen Shaffer, a 20-year state parks volunteer and living-history re-enactor, led one of several tours through buildings near the chapel, sharing much of the history of the grounds and the improbable story of Julia Morgan, the first female architect in U.S. history.

"But she didn't study to be an architect — she studied to be an engineer, because there were no architecture schools in California," Shaffer explained. "She went to Berkeley to learn to be a civil engineer, then went to Paris to become an architect."

Morgan returned to the U.S. in 1904 and built several buildings and towers, all of which survived the earthquake that devastated San Francisco in 1906 without so much as a crack, Shaffer said.

One of the first buildings Morgan designed at Asilomar came to be known as "The Stuck-Up Inn," the moniker it still carries today. The nickname came from the privileged college-age females who were recruited to the new YWCA grounds in 1915.

"These were girls from affluent families who came here not realizing they would be required to make beds, do dishes, clean . . ." she explained. "They weren't very happy about all of that, and the locals thought these ladies had a little bit of a snotty attitude. They got over it, but not before the local people called them 'stuck-up girls.' So, they decided that's who they were — The Stuck-Ups — and this is their place."

The Stuck-Up Inn, like all Asilomar buildings, was built from materials found in the area, a trademark of Morgan's style. Fireplaces are constructed from stone from the nearby beach. The structures are made of redwood, pine and stone. The Stuck-Up Inn, like most of the buildings, is designed so all other areas funnel into a central meeting place — Morgan's innovative way of encouraging people to interact. Large windows brighten the room and "bring nature in," Shaffer explained.

"She wanted people to feel like they were a part of the beauty of their surroundings," she said.

The dorm rooms on the second floor of The Stuck-Up Inn are bare and spartan (another Morgan trick to draw the residents into the warm, cozy communal room). Each room had either two or three beds and shared a communal bathroom.

Wild deer roam the grounds at Asilomar, mingling peacefully among the guests and munching on the foliage.

One of the buildings, Social Hall, was a lodge for benefactors who stayed on the grounds in the early days.

"This is where the VIPs would stay — anybody who was on the board of the YWCA. Phoebe Hearst would have stayed when she came here to see what was going on," Shaffer said. "Morgan later built a little cottage for herself, but before that, she also stayed here. She was very hands-on when she was doing a project. The upstairs rooms have the same kind of spartan designs as the rooms at The Stuck-Up Inn, but they have amazing views of the ocean."

Kastner's lecture at the chapel focused heavily on Morgan and Phoebe Hearst, but also touched upon George Hearst, a miner who came west and struck gold in Nevada before meeting and marrying 19-year-old Phoebe; their son, William Randolph Hearst, who became a newspaper baron, and Bernard Maybeck, the visionary San Francisco Bay Area architect who mentored Morgan.

Kastner's presentation included a slideshow of many of Morgan's other buildings, including Hearst Castle, for which she was the lead architect.